Armed men launched a deadly attack on Birnin Zarma village in Nigeria’s Zamfara state, killing one man and abducting 18 women and children, local sources told Reporters on Saturday.
The assailants, part of kidnap and cattle rustling gangs widely referred to as “bandits,” struck at dawn on Friday in the latest wave of violence troubling the region.
Zamfara, along with several states in northwest and central Nigeria, has faced years of repeated bandit raids.
“The bandits attacked the village around 5:00 am while people were preparing for morning prayers,” said Ibrahim Bello, a resident of Birnin Zarma.
“They broke into a house and shot dead a man, wounding his wife, before dragging 18 women and children out of the village,” Bello added.
According to Lawal Umar, a resident of nearby Bukkuyum, the attackers were suspected to have come from Anka district, where they run camps inside the surrounding forest.
